Avatar: The Last Airbender
by flamesandfire
Summary: What would happen if Aang had to actually kill the Phoenix King? How one different move and mistake would have affected everything in the fight. Takes place the night the comet had arrived and has Kataang because Kataang rules!
1. The Fallen Avatar

The top of the ancient rocky statues above was Aang and the Ozai fighting until the end. Aang could not manage to get one hit on him and knew he was running out of time.

"Your time is up little boy!" Ozai taunted as he chased Aang.

Each time Aang touched the ground and led Ozai to almost blasting him from the top, but Aang was lucky to be quick and to get away. Lightning strikes from Ozai's fingers were nearly close to striking Aang's back and almost at the same spot Azula had critically injured him. Aang was not to give up though. He had made another tornado and whirled himself inside it, spinning him all the way to the bottom of the battlefield and gasping for air. Ozai flew all the way and chased Aang without breaking a sweat nor tired from chasing. Aang looked up in complete exhaustion and started to run away from Ozai.

"Please! You don't know what you're doing!" Aang yelled while he tried to earthbended rocks at Ozai's body.

"Yes, I do. I am about to be the most powerful person in the world!" Ozai responded.

The roar in his voice matched completed with the amount of fire he released from his body, and Aang knew he could not ignore the power that was headed towards him. Aang quickly earthbended rocks around himself to try to protect himself from getting blasted. The fire shook him to the ground and the rock rolled and Ozai did not stop firing. He had much energy to spare and had plenty of time to get rid of the avatar before the comet ended.

"Come out and fight! You can't hide in there forever Avatar!" Ozai yelled as he continued to scorch the rocks with fire at Aang.

At The Fire Nation

Zuko and Katara had finished battling Azula and rushed over to where all of the air ship fleets had left. There as nothing but one more air ship with nobody inside.

"Come on Zuko, we have to meet up with Aang!" Katara yelled and grabbed his hand.

Zuko ran as fast as he could still with his injured body and came inside until he met a couple of fire nation soldiers.

"I got them." Katara said determined.

She rapidly froze all of the soldiers to the walls and ran right past them into the commander's room. She took care of the wheel and led the air ship in the air heading to where Ozai and Aang were battling.

"This is going to be a rough ride." She said with much angriness in her voice.

In the meantime, Aang knew he couldn't hide forever and time would come to where he would have to just try to fight the Phoenix King. Ozai backed away and stuck is hand out, preparing to unleash one of the most powerful blasts he had ever sent. He took another leap towards the hiding Avatar and unleashed the blast, crushing the rocks and blasting Aang to another rock statue and another sharp rock sticking out on most of the others. The rock hit Aang's scar on his back and gave him visions of all the Avatar's and allowing him to unlock the avatar state. Ozai grandly walked over to the appearing fallen Avatar, taunting him as he made his way.

"Come on out little boy, you're about to be…" Ozai said but was stopped as he saw a glowing arm and hand grabbing his hair.

Aang came from the bottom of the ground and blocked away Ozai's right arm trying to aim another hit at he Avatar. Aang let go after the block and unleashed a powerful air wave, sending Ozai to the ground and falling until he had slammed his back into another rock and fell to his knees. He looked up and watched as Aang brought all four elements surrounding him, air as a big air bubble covering his whole body. The fire, water, and rocks circled him as he rose from the ground and into the air facing Ozai's direction. Ozai was frightened and tried to fly away from his firebending. Aang caught up very quickly and the two most powerful people in the world fought while flying in mid-air. Ozai would not stop fighting though. Aang quickly earthbended two of the rocks statues and blocked Ozai from flying threw. Ozai managed to change his direction, trying to ignore Aang's single moves. Aang then drew water from the nearby sea and wiped Ozai completely from the air and fell to the ground. Aang flew from above about to seemingly smash Ozai to the ground but he did not hesitate and flew quickly away from the Avatar singly crushing him. Ozai headed for wherever he could and watched as Aang was a step behind him. He made his way on the top of another statue and kicked a flame at Aang, but he quickly blocked it by earthbending rocks in front of him. Ozai then jumped and flew away again and Aang went after him once more. After a couple of seconds after Aang blasting fireballs at Ozai, he grabbed his body with water, covering his whole body inside and swung the water around and splashed Ozai on the ground with the water on top of him. Aang then earthbended Ozai's hands and feet to the ground and flew upon him making his final stand.

Katara and Zuko finally had seen the crashed air whip Aang had destroyed and new they were getting near. They saw Suki, Toph, and Sokka waving in on the ground letting them know they were ok.

"Over there, straight ahead." Zuko said pointing at his father.

"I think Aang's winning!" Katara said with slight joy on her face.

"Fire Lord Ozai, you and your forefathers have devastated the balance of this world. And now, you shall ay the ultimate price!" Aang yelled while still in the avatar state.

Ozai watched as Aang was bending all of the elements towards his chest but then soon stopped and the water fell on top of him. He knew by now Aang had exited the Avatar state and watched as he slowly went to the ground.

"No, I'm not going to end it like this." He said refusing.

"What is he doing?" Zuko asked about to get out of the air ship.

"No…" Katara said lowly.

"Even with all the power in the world, you are still weak." Ozai said about to strike once again.

Aang did not bother to pay attention and Ozai stealthy stood up from the ground and prepared to strike Aang with lighting. He swung his arms into circular motions until he finally got the striking point. Katara ran out of the air ship and ran to the edge of the statue and watched Ozai to make his final strike.

"Aang!" Katara yelled far enough for Aang to hear.

Aang was bout to turn around until he felt a small sting on his back, the same spot to where Azula had struck him back at Ba Sing Se. His eyes suddenly turned to fear and struck with pain and turned around completely looking into Katara's blue eyes. Smoke had covered Ozai's finger tips and he smiled and knew the Avatar had fallen once and for all. Zuko and Katara watched along side with Suki, Sokka and Toph. Katara took another step off of the edge not knowing she would fall if she took another step. Sokka grabbed his sister before she fell and they both watched as Aang fell from where he stood and to the ground.

"No!!" Katara yelled with much anger and sadness filled inside her.

Ozai laughed and faced the gang with much power still inside him. He looked up and still saw the comet soaring by, knowing he still had time to end the gang.

"Now, I have nothing to worry about. I took the avatar down and now, I'm going to take you guys down!" Ozai yelled and started to fly towards the gang.

"We've got to get out of here!" Suki said.

"No. We're staying, for Aang." Sokka said saddened. "Just give him everything we have."

Katara watched as Ozai flew nearby wanting to unleash everything she had in store for him. "This still isn't over."


	2. The Final Strike

Ozai headed straight ahead to the gang. Katara took a step ahead of everyone else but then looked back at the ground below, staring at Aang's still body.

"Toph, I'm going to need you to take me down there to Aang." Katara demanded. "Will you be able to take the fire lord without me for a couple of minutes?"

"Yea, I can handle him. I'm sure we all can." Zuko said and jumped to another rock.

Toph waited until everyone was clear out of the way and then earthbended the statue all the way to the ground until they were close enough for Katara to reach Aang. Katara looked up and saw blasts of fire in the sky making her fear for Toph's safety and for the others.

"Be careful when you make your way up there. I'll call you when I need you." Katara said and rushed off to Aang's still body.

Toph nodded in agreement while earthbending her self back to the fight. Katara ran over to Aang who was only a couple feet away from her and bent over to him. She pulled the water from her pouch and started to heal his wound, hoping he wasn't gone. She pulled his body over to his front side after several seconds of healing and looked at him.

"You feel so cold." She said tearful. "Aang, get up."

Aang's mouth quivered a bit and his left eye opened and looked straight into Katara's eyes. He smiled slightly and watched as Katara did too. A tear dropped to her cheek and fell on Aang's stomach but he didn't mine as he tried to fold his hand into hers.

"Ka..Katara..." He said responding to what she had wanted.

Katara's smile quickly fainted she covered his mouth with two of her fingers. "Please Aang don't talk, just rest."

"Helping the Avatar was a bad mistake!" Ozai said as he tried to strike his son with lighting.

Zuko dodged every move his father tried to hit him with, but was growing tired each time. He knew he couldn't fight by himself and neither with Toph's help. Ozai turned around and unleashed another fireball to where Toph was standing.

"Watch out!" Zuko yelled since he knew Toph could not sense where the fireball was coming.

Toph earthbended the statue lower and the fireball swarmed over her head. "I've got a plan!"

Zuko tried to distract Ozai from attempting to hurt Toph. He jumped over each rock so Ozai would follow and strike at Zuko more.

"Where are you going?" Sokka asked as he was being bandaged from Suki by the air balloon.

"I'm going inside to get some metal." Toph said and ran inside.

Zuko kicked his fireballs carelessly towards Ozai but he easily got rid of them with one hand. He took another leap towards his son blasted fire continuously at Zuko. Zuko did the same as it seemed to him he was fighting Azula once again, only he was more powerful. Ozai knew he had the greater advantage and therefore took steps closer to Zuko. Zuko backed away but looked over and knew he was at the edge at being blasted off the statue. Ozai took his arms back about to let loose a power blow but Zuko jumped out of the way on another rock.

Aang knew his time was coming and needed to get Katara out of the way and try to end the fight. He watched as her eyes were closed and she was quietly crying next to him and it bothered him more, putting more pain on his back. The wound was deeper and much bigger than last time.

"Katara, you've got to go." Aang mumbled.

"No, I'm not leaving you." She said refusing.

But Aang nodded in disagreement. "My time has come and there's nothing you can do but just try to fight."

Katara put her arms around Aang's neck and hugged him tightly. Tears were falling from her cheeks and on the red colored grass, reflecting from the comets color. One tear had made on Aang's shoulder and slid all the way down on his back seemingly to touch his wound. She stood on one knee now, about to leave Aang on the ground. Before she left he grabbed on to her right hand and pulled her closer, with all of the energy left within him. He looked up beyond himself and she looked too, watching Sokka waving from above trying to get their attention.

"Katara! We need your help!" He yelled.

Aang slowly looked at Katara and she gazed back at him. His eyes leisurely closed and his head was completely touching the ground with nothing else left inside him. "I love you."

Katara's eyes widened and her hand covered her mouth in shock. She leaned towards him and put her hands on his left cheek.

"Aang." She whispered but received nothing in return and knew by now that the Avatar, the only person who could bring hope to the world, her best friend, and her love was gone.

Zuko leaped to another rock tumbling on the ground but putting himself back on his feet. He needed some rest because of the other injury was bothering him. Ozai did not wait but struck more lightning at Zuko and he always managed to get away but not this time. The lightning struck the bottom where Zuko was standing and pushed him from the ground and into another rock, slamming his body into the rocky wall. He fell partly unconscious and his father soon met up with him and wrapped his hands around Zuko's neck.

"Say goodbye son!" Ozai said and his hand full if fire headed for Zuko's face until he felt a chunk of metal hit his head.

"What the.." He said but was quickly pushed of the ledge of the statue and headed to the ground.

Ozai controlled his balance in the air and flew towards Toph whose whole body was wrapped up in metal again. Ozai shot more fire from his wrists and didn't seem to bother Toph much.

"Toph I need you!" Katara yelled from beneath.

Toph looked at Katara not focusing on Ozai and he quickly struck lightning at Toph. Electrocuting noises roared in the air and sparks were sent flying from the middle of where Toph's stomach was and forced her falling to the ground below.

"No!" Zuko yelled and spun a kick of fire at his father.

Ozai waited too long to move and was sent twirling in the air but not badly hurt. He flew straight back to Zuko and he set his arms into creating lightning for the first time. He did not stop moving his arms even though he knew it was working and saw strikes of lightning around his body. He looked up and saw his father doing the same and heading towards him. They both released lightning headed for one another. They clashed, hitting each other creating a powerful smash neither hurting one another but the explosion sending them flying long distances away from each other. The wind hit Suki and Sokka's faces making them cover themselves for protection. Zuko slid on the ground after landing and Ozai landed near the crashed airships on the ground unconscious.

Katara rushed over to Toph who seemed still and tried to take the metal off of her. Toph's metal hand began to move and unwrapped herself from the metal. Next there were rocks covering Toph's body as well and earthbended herself from being covered inside. Her face appeared and started to cough from the smoke.

"You're ok!" Katara said in joy.

"Yea but my stomach's sore. I knew the fire lord would strike me with lightning so I protected myself by covering myself with rocks underneath the layers of metal." Toph explained.

"You stay here and watch Zuko and Aang." Katara said and ran to where Ozai was lying on the floor.

Toph turned around trying to sense where Aang was, but felt nothing. "But where is Aang? I don't see him."

She waited for Katara to respond but knew she was already gone to fight the fire lord. Katara finally made it near where the shore was and saw all of the soldiers and firebenders from the crashed ships walking towards her after sighting her. Then she had seen the fire lord behind them all and soon the soldiers stopped walking. Ozai walked in front of them and stuck his hand in the air. Katara frowned with anger, preparing to try to take the fire lord down. Ozai waved his hand in the air and the soldiers headed back inside the war balloons to try to fix the damaged that was given.

"So this is what happens when I kill the Avatar? I get his friends to come and fight me even though they are all down and you still manage to live. I'm sure we will make this quick and painful death." Ozai said teasing and took another deep breath.

Katara knew the time came and quickly brought the water from the sea about to wipe Ozai off of his feet. He responded too quickly and bent over and opening his hands, creating a wall of fire behind him so the water evaporated. Katara waterbended the water out of her pouch and wiped Ozai's back with it while he was turning around. He yelled in pain and a second later grinned at Katara. He bent down to the ground and rose his hands in the air unleashing a wall of fire at her right side and then another at he left side as she tried to get away.

"Nowhere to run now!" Ozai yelled and watched Katara's eyes change from determine to fear.

He moved closer to her and took it easy on her, shooting a couple of fireballs at her body. She easily blocked the fireballs with water and slid on the ground. She jumped up and crossed her arms around her body making the water into icicles and throwing them at Ozai. He didn't try to move from where he was standing and shot one fire ball causing the icicles to vanish. Katara began to run around Ozai to be closer to the ocean but not hitting the fire walls. He tried to scare her by shooting more fireballs at her body. She fell and tripped over her foot and looked at her right, watching Ozai firebending the fire to make it closer to her.

"Your time is up little girl!" He yelled thinking he won.

Katara waterbended the water close enough to her and created and airbubble so she could go inside the water to breath. She waterbended her and the water back into the sea and wasn't seen until then. Ozai stopped firebending and watched, waiting for Katara to make another appearance. She came out of the water, raising her self from a water tornado she was bending and threw much larger icicles at Ozai. He moved out of the way and tried to evaporate the icicles away. Katara seemed to think she had an advantage and moved closer to land still with the water tornado supporting her. Ozai smiled and clapped is hands together, creating a loud roar of fire and evaporating Katara's tornado. She fell to the ground, sliding in the dirt until she stopped had nothing left in her. She started to breathe heavily and watched Ozai walking towards her.

"I can't do this, not anymore alone." She said underneath her breath.

"Maybe this time I can actually end someone's life!" He said and started to create lightning once more.

Ozai let the lightning lose from his fingers and Katara watched as the lightning was quickly heading for her body.

"No!" Aang yelled from the side and jumped so he stood upon her.

He stuck his fingers out and struggled with the lightning in his body, but was able to control it. He aimed at Ozai anger took over his body. Katara watched in amazement and looked at his back and saw the wound healed back to the normal state. Aang directed the lightning back to the sky and protected Katara from Ozai.

"This is it Ozai! Either give up now, or you will take what is meant to happen to you!" Aang yelled.

Ozai became furious and flew towards Aang ready for another blow. Aang watched and told Katara to get out of the way. He watched her move and smiled at her mkaing sure she had nothing to worry about. He turned his attention back to Ozai who was an inch away from him. Aang swiftly grabbed Ozai's right shoulder and spun him around, throwing him back to the rocky statues. Aang ran faster than the wind to meet Ozai at the spot. He jumped over to trees and jumped off of the tallest tree and in mid-air; he bent his back over causing Ozai to miss another lightning strike. Aang made his balance once again and he started to shoot fire at Ozai, not stopping. Ozai did the same and had to use more strength this time. Katara, Sokka, Suki, and Toph watched from below hoping Aang would win. Aang used his other hand shot a fireball at Ozai. Ozai stopped firing and tried to block the fireball hitting but was too late. His body was sent back and slammed into a rocky wall and watched Aang rushing towards him, airbending air currents towards his body. Ozai backed himself against the wall and rolled on the ground hoping Aang would miss him. He stood back up and saw Aang earthbending the rocks above him. Ozai jumped and flew off from being hit and Aang followed kicking another line of fire towards the fire lord. The fire hit Ozai's back without burning him but messing himself up in the air and fell to the ground. He rapidly stood up from the ground and stuck his hands out unloading a fire wave at Aang while he wasn't paying attention. The wave wiped Aang in unconsciousness and flew into a statue and rocks from above fell on top of him. Everyone stared and did not see Aang move and watched Ozai as he tried to catch his breath.

Ozai walked towards Aang in relief. All of a sudden, Aang overcame the rocks from on top of him. He was in the avatar state and this time creating lightning for himself. Ozai backed away not knowing how to reflect lightning back at his opponent and Aang finally drew lightning from his finger tips not waiting anymore. Ozai gulped in the matter of fear and before he knew it; the lightning had hit his chest. The force lifted him off of his feet and several feet in the air, crashing into another rocky statue. The rocks crumbled down and fell on top of his body not hearing a word from him or watching another move.

"Aang!" Katara yelled.

Aang faced her way in anger and raised his hand in the air about to strike again firebending at her.

"No." she said lowly. "No!"

Zuko ran and stepped in front of her. "Snap out of it Aang!"

Aang roared and the gang watched the fire coming out of his hands, feet and mouth. He rose into the air and started to blast all of the rocky statues into pieces and crumbling to the ground. Katara shoved Zuko out of the way and then ran to Toph.

"Take me to a statue that's not taken down!" She demanded. "Do it quick!"

"What?! That's crazy! Aang's taking the whole place down!" Toph exclaimed.

"We've got to get out of here!" Sokka yelled and had Suki help him rush to get out of the way.

"I'm the only one who can stop him. Once you lead me up there you can clear the area until he clams down." Katara said in fear.

Toph nodded and earthbended one of the closest status that was not taking down to them. They both got on top and lifted themselves to the highest peak.

"Go now! I can take it from here!" Katara yelled as the wind was overcoming her voice.

Toph left the area and Katara turned around watching all the damage Aang was creating in the Avatar State. Aang created more blasts of fire in the sky and Katara watched as he was destroying home lands and creating fire in the woods. He turned around, earthbending all of the statues around him and Katara but not knowing she was near.

"Aang! Aang! I don't know if you can hear me but you need to stop this!" Katara tried to yell but the noise grew louder and louder.

"What is she doing?!" Sokka yelled.

"She knows what she's doing! Lets keep moving!" Suki yelled back.

Katara knew Aang wasn't exactly focused on what she had to say, but she kept trying. "Aang, I know you didn't want to do this but it was the right thing in the way! We're here for you to go through this!"

Aang started to clam down but was about to crumble the last statue in front of him and Katara was on it. Katara stopped talking as soon as the statue shook about to fall to the ground. She lost her balance and grabbed on the edge with both of her hands for her life. She lifted half of her body up and tears began to fall from her eyes again.

"Please Aang, don't do this! I love you Aang!" She yelled and Aang stopped earthbendning.

The damage was done already and the statue began to fall. Katara lost her grasp on the edge and fell with the statue. Aang exited the Avatar stated and fell to the ground with Katara. He quickly airbended the air around him to catch up with Katara and caught her in the air and landed safely on the ground. He looked up and saw the rocks falling towards him andhe juumped on top of her, using his body to cover her's for safely. The rocks smashed on top of them and the debris and smoke covered the area so the two could not be seen.

"No.." Sokka said helplessly. "Katara!"

Zuko ran to the spot and tried to move the heavy rocks from out of the way. "I can't find them. Where are they?!"

"We're ok." Katara said coming from another side of the debris and walking with Aang in her arms ok. "He's ok, he just needs to rest now."

"Thank goodness you guys are alright! I thought you guys were done for!" Suki said full of happiness.

Everybody sat down and rested, glad that the war was over and everybody was ok. Katara laid Aang on her lap and lifted his head to her stomach. She pulled a blanket over his cold body put his hand into hers and held it for a brief amount of time. He slowly opened one of his eyes and slightly smiled at her and took a deep breath.

"Thank you." He said quietly and fell back to sleep.

Katara smiled and wiped her eyes with her other unused arm. She looked up in the sky and watched as the comet ended and soar away.


	3. Hurt and Comfort

A soft whisper entered into Aang's left ear. He was finally awaken but still kept his eyes shut as if he were still asleep.

"Aang…" Katara said softy.

Aang knew it was her, but just ignored her for a brief second just wanting to hear her voice again for the last time. He finally opened his eyes and saw that the night was clear and dark in the sky. The moon was showing and the wind was blowing lightly in his face. He was lying on the rocky ground still, thinking it was hours after he had battled Ozai. He turned his head slowly to his right side and saw Katara with tears gleaming from her eyes. She had small smile on her face; glad and knowing that he was alright. She pulled him closer to her and hugged him tightly. Aang did nothing but smile, glad that he was in her arms and tried to hug her back. The pain from his back was worse than before and he couldn't move much and tried to be careful from hurting himself.

"You don't have to say anything. Just rest." She said.

Aang chuckled and looked at Katara in her eyes. He lifted him self up to sit straight but leaned forwards to ease the pain. She put her fur watertribe coat over him and sat right across from him, face to face.

"We won now and the war is over." Katara stated delightful.

Aang's smiled vanished as he remembered what he had done to Ozai, and looked at the ground in disappointment. Katara knew something was wrong and hoped that Aang would not remember much for what happened before.

"Katara.." He said.

"No." She replied.

Aang's eyebrow rose. "What do you mean no?"

Katara glanced at the ground and started to fidget with a small brown rock. "I know what you're going to say, and I can't let you live you life ashamed that you finished him off. It was the right thing to do and there was nothing else that could be done."

"Taking someone's life isn't the right thing to do Katara. I could have spared him, or figured out another way to stop him instead of killing him." Aang argued.

"Aang, what could you have done to stop Ozai from trying to kill you? If you weren't in the Avatar State, you would have probably been finished back there." Katara said pointing to the spot were Aang and Ozai finished there last seconds of fighting. "I'm not trying to say it in a bad way, I'm trying to be real with you."

"She's right Aang." Toph said coming along with Sokka and Suki. "You could have died if your powers weren't enhanced.

"You don't know that!" Aang yelled angrily but tried to control his temper. "I could have at least tried to reason with him."

Zuko laughed thinking it was humorous. "Trust me, there was no way you could try to reason with my father. Ending his life was the right way to restore balance in the world."

"You guys really don't understand!" Aang said and stood up quickly from the floor. Katara tried to help but he refused and shook his arm away from her. "How would you feel if you killed somebody?"

Aang waited for an answer but silence covered the whole area. "That's what I thought. Zuko, do you know how I feel now knowing that I killed your father?"

Zuko didn't answer, not knowing what to say.

Aang continued his rampage towards the gang as they watched and listened. "Almost every one of us had lost somebody from someone else in a battle, but I'm counted as a murderer to people now."

"Aang you are not counted as one." Sokka said trying to reason but Aang lashed out.

"Then what am I counted as?! What am I known of now?! This goes against everything that the monks taught me!" He yelled back.

"Aang you need to take it easy." Katara said.

"No! You guys just don't see where I'm coming from. You don't know how I feel and there's no way running away from this! I didn't want to kill him and I could've stopped myself from doing the job, but I didn't! It was all a mistake, another one that I made."

Aang fell to the ground in pain, forgetting that his back was badly wounded. Katara ran over to him and led his softly to the ground.

"You're forgetting one thing Aang. What if you stopped yourself from killing him? He would of ended your life and how do you think that would have put the world through now?" Katara asked.

"Don't you know how that would have affected us to? Not just because of our friendship but because of our lives?" Zuko stated.

"Yea and if you didn't kill him Aang, all of us wouldn't be here right now with you to talk about this." Toph added.

Katara looked into Aang's eyes once more showing her emotion to him. "And you don't know what kind of pain losing you would put me through Aang. Me personally"

She watched him smile back and blush but still over what he had done just hours ago.

"Aang you did the right thing, even if it feels like the worst thing in the world." Suki said politely.

"You saved the whole world Aang, and that's what matters now." Toph said and kneeled down next to him. She punched his shoulder lightly in a friendly way and smiled.

"So what do we do now guys?" Aang said confused and feeling lost.

Everybody looked at the sky and was silent for a moment. The moon shined in their eyes and the view amazed everyone of how quiet it was after the war just ended hours ago.

"Well are you guys going to answer or not?" Toph asked impatiently

"We rebuild." Katara finally said and took Aang's and into hers.

The gang heard a fire nation ship coming along the way from the sea. They all looked over and stood up from the ground, Aang supporting his weight on Katara. He looked at her and smiled, watching as she smiled and watched her father step out of the ship. They all saw Hakoda and Iroh with him along with other watertribe soldiers waving from the firenation ship.

"It's finally time to go home." Zuko said smiling..

Minutes after being picked up from the crew, Aang and Katara were on board on the firenation ship in the bottom room. Everybody else rested including Zuko after being hit with lightning from Azula. Katara had not let go of her hand from Aang since they were outside discussing the argument.

"You know Aang I thought I lost you when you when you were struck from Ozai. I thought it was all over and for the first time, I didn't have hope at all." Katara mentioned and looked at the red cover on the bed.

Aang looked at the metal floor, having nothing to say.

"How did you survive the hit? I thought it was fatal. At least it looked fatal to me when I saw you falling." Katara asked.

Aang closed his eyes trying to remember what had happened, but nothing came to his memory. "I don't know. All I remembered was that you hugged me and one of your tears dropped to my back." Aang mumbled. "Nothing else."

Katara's face turned confused, wondering if her tear had done the healing job and making Aang better. Aang looked at her face, making him smile calmly and thought it was the best time to tell her how he felt.

"Katara, did I ever tell you thank you for saving me, and stopping me from ruining everything back there?" He asked

"Yes you did, and you don't have to say it twice." She answered and watched him closely

She smiled and put her right hand on his left cheek ad watched him lean closer to her. The twos toped as soon as they heard a loud bang against the door and saw Toph on the floor along with Suki and Sokka on the ground next to her. Katara got up from the bed and hopped to the floor thinking it was an intruder.

"I'm sorry, I thought this was my room." Toph said about to walk out but Aang airbended the door so it would shut.

"I'm pretty sure you can tell which room was yours Toph." Aang said laughing.

"What are you guys doing here anyways?" Katara asked while helping her broth of the ground.

"I lost my boomerang and I thought maybe it was in here." Sokka explained and limped himself towards Suki.

"Didn't you throw your boomerang to save us?" Toph asked.

Sokka covered Toph's mouth with his hands and pushed her out the door.

"We should be going now." Suki said and closed the door softly, leaving Aang and Katara alone again.

Katara looked slowly back at Aang who seemed happy that they were alone again. She bit her lip and slowly walked over to him again and sat on the bed. "I should be going too. You need some rest."

She leaned over and kissed Aang's forehead. She walked away to the door and opened it to exit her way out. She looked back once more and whispered, "Goodnight Avatar Aang."

She closed the door and left Aang alone in his bed. He sighed and looked at the firenation logo above his head. "Goodnight."


	4. The New Beginning

"Rebuilding the firenation and brining balance throughout the world is going to be a huge job for you Zuko." Iroh said and took a sip of his tea.

"I know uncle, and that's why I'm going to need all the help I can get." Zuko said walking with his uncle to the fire nation thrown.

They openede the curtain and saw the throne waiting for Zuko to sit in it. It was clean and neat and the room was empty. Iroh smiled at his nephew and took a step backwards.

"Your seat awaits you Fire Lord Zuko." Iroh said and bowed down to him.

Zuko smiled but lifted his uncle from the ground. Iroh surprisingly smiled and pat Zuko's back softly.

"I now appoint you my highest advisor and general Uncle." Zuko said and sat on the throne facing the other way of the door.

"I know you can do this Zuko. I have faith in you. You must do the job that a real Fire Lord must do." Iroh stated.

Zuko drank some of his tea and looked at his Uncle with smirk on his face. "In that case, send troops out to spread the word that the war is over. That's the first step that we need to take right now."

"Of course." Iroh said and pushed the curtain open so that way he could exit.

Zuko watched but then sat up from the throne and shouted Iroh's name out before he could completely walk out from the room. "Unlce!"

Iroh turned around and looked at Zuko with concern. He saw Zuko smiled again and nodded his head down, then up.

"Thank you, General Iroh." Zuko finally said.

He watched Iroh smile and exit the room. Mai soon entered in along with Aang, Sokka, Suki, Toph, and Katara.

"It's good to see you again Avatar Aang." Zuko said presenting Aang properly. "And everybody else."

"It's good to see you too Fire Lord Zuko." Aang said greeting Zuko the same way as well.

"It seems so weird how everyone is now, ok. It's so different." Sokka mentioned as he waved his crutch in the air.

"That's not the only thing that's going to change. There's a lot more than just calling Aang Avatar Aang and calling Zuko Fire lord Zuko" Katara said and grinned at Zuko.

Zuko smiled back graciously and walked over towards the group. "Listen guys, we have a lot on our hands, and were going to have to take it slow at a time. I'm pretty sure each of us has a lot to do in order to bring complete balance to the world."

"What do we have to do now? I thought our journey was over!" Sokka asked seemingly bored about the conversation.

"I'm sending troops out to spread the word around the world to let everyone know the war is over. I'm pretty sure you guys have to head back home and tell you families the same thing." Zuko added.

"It would be nice to go home, but then everybody will be separated again." Toph said missing her parents too much.

Aang glanced at Katara while she was focusing her attention all on Zuko. "Does this mean, this is the end?"

The room was empty after Aang had said his words and nobody said a word. Katara looked at Aang, worried about their future and took a step in front of everybody.

"No. Just because the war is over doesn't mean we all can't be friends anymore. We can always keep in contact with one another." Katara said trying to keep the group together.

Sokka limped in front of everyone and stood next to Katara and took her hand. "We're all going to have to go home and tell the big news. Then evacuate all of the soldiers that are still attacking and tell them the war is over. We also have to get everyone back to their families and take down the entire fire nation logos on all of the earthkingdoms capitals and when we're done with that, we rebuild walls back on Ba Sing Se."

"It sounds like a lot of work, but I'm sure it can be done." Toph said. "And in the mean time if anyone of the firenation soldiers resist in leaving, then kick their butts just for fun of it."

"We'll be like a whole big group again. Raveling around the world and saving people just like how we always did it in the past."

"I'm not going." Aang said.

Katara's smile disappeared and she let go of Sokka's hand. "What are you talking about?"

"The next step to my Avatar journey is to finish mastering firebending. I have to remain here for four years at least." Aang said sadly while looking at the metal floor.

"You can't! I mean, why can't you just master firebending while you're with us?" Katara refused.

"Who's a master at firebending that's going to be with us? Zuko's going to have to stay here and I doubt there are any masters outside of the firenation capital besides Jeong Jeong but he's already busy with the Order of the White Lotus" Aang replied. "I know it's hard, and even harder for me but it has to be done and you guys need to do your parts of this job."

"We can always visit you right?" Toph asked while trying to make everything sound better.

"I knew this would happen." Zuko said calmly.

Sokka looked at Zuko. "What do you mean?"

"At some point in our lives, one of us or all of us would have to split up and go our separate ways and it would have a major affect on all of us." Zuko answered but walked closer to everybody. "But I'm sure all of us we be back together again. We'll just have to take some time to let that happen."

A guard came inside the room, not meaning to interrupt the conversation. "Fire Lord Zuko, do to the damage we've caused at the earthkingdom's land, it is our honor to take everybody that are now allies to us home. That is up to you Fire Lord Zuko."

"I'll gladly accept. When do the ships leave?" Zuko asked.

"In a half hour sir, but it is best if you get on board now." He answered back

"What's your fastest ship? I want to get home faster so we can see Gran-Gran." Sokka said excitedly and nudged Katara's arm.

"Take the ship that was made for Azula. It is now yours." Zuko said grateful.

"No way!" Sokka yelled and ran out the room to the ship.

"Lets go guys." Zuko said leading everybody outside.

Minutes later everybody made it outside of the palace, including Hakoda and the watertribe warriors. The gang found Sokka drooling over the size of the ship they were given and he quickly ran to the top.

"I'm taking control of the wheel!" He shouted loudly above everybody else.

Everyone stared at him for a moment, and then went back to their conversations before the big move. A fire nation general walked to the deck of the ship and looked at everybody.

"All aboard!" He shouted and watched Sokka run into the control room.

"We have a lot of work to do." Aang said to Zuko.

Zuko smiled and walked over to the group for one last time. "You guys take care you hear?"

"Group hug!" Toph shouted and everybody smiled and ran to give Zuko a hug.

They soon let go and Suki boarded the ship with Toph.

"So, I'm thinking you have a crush on Sokka." Suki said jokingly.

"Are you kidding me? What makes you think that?" Toph said denying it but blushing at the same time.

Katara watched and saw her father walking her way. He smiled at Aang and put his arm around her gently.

"I'm very proud of you, both of you. Do you by any chance know where Sokka is?" He asked.

"He's already on the ship dad. He thinks he's taking orders." Katara said chuckling

"You must be joking right?" Hakoda asked serious about the question but there was no response and Hakoda knew she was serious.

"Sokka! No!" He yelled as he ran to the ship and stop Sokka.

Zuko looked over and saw Mai saying goodbye to Ty Lee and the other Kyoshi warriors. He didn't have a better excuse to leave and Aang and Zuko alone so he started to walk towards Mai. "I think Mai needs me over there. You two can talk about stuff."

Aang watched him walk away and just knew it was him and Katara for a few more seconds.

"Hey there." Aang said courteously.

Katara blushed and looked to her side. "Hi Aang."

After a few seconds of silence, Aang couldn't help but start talking. "Everything's going by so fast. It seemed like yesterday we had jsut met and now we're about to separate except we wont have each other anymore."

The wind blew Katara's hair softly to the side and she fixed her left hair loop. Her hair was the same as it was during the war but her dressing was different. She took a soft sigh and took a step loser to Aang. "I know, but as hard as it seems, it's going to have to be this way, no matter how hard it seems."

"We'll see each other soon right? I mean four years isn't that long." Aang said after there was a couple seconds of silence.

Katara smiled and giggled after his sarcasm. He eyes became watery and he knew she was upset over them separating.

"I'll miss you so much Aang. You don know how proud I am of you." She said and gave a hug.

She wrapped her arms strongly around his body, making it hard for him to breathe but he didn't mind trying to loosen it up a bit. He too wrapped his arms around her warm body and he felt safe and warm.

"I'll miss you too Katara." He added. "I'll miss you so much."

"Katara!" Sokka yelled as he was fighting Hakoda to let go of him. "Lets go so we can get out of here!"

"Yea!" Toph added. "I'm tired of being in the fire nation as much as I am right now! No offense Zuko!"

Katara looked back at Aang and smiled. He watched as both tears from her eyes drooped to her lower cheek and he too began to cry.

"Goodbye Aang." She said and walked slowly away from him.

Aang stood there and watched the love of his life walk away from him, knowing that he will never see her again for another four years at most. He started to walk away towards Zuko until he heard his name being called out again. He turned around and saw Katara running towards him and fell into his arms, kissing him. Shocked, he put his arms around her waist and she threw her arms over his body, not letting go.

"Aaaww." Suki said and looked over at Sokka who was still struggling with his father.

"I'm not giving up until I get the wheel!" He yelled at Suki and continued to wrestle Hakoda.

Aang and Katara finally released and put their foreheads together, touching one another.

"I just had to do that." She said blushing even deeper.

Aang was speechless but enjoyed the moment and wished he had even more. "I love you Katara."

"I love you too Aang, so much." She said and let go of his body.

His hands separated from her waist and she lifted her arm in the air. His hand was slid from her arm to the end of her hand. They had a second to where they were touching once more and she pulled away, walking backwards to the ship but still facing Aang.

"Goodbye." She whispered one last time and turned around to the ship.

Aang watched and saw Katara finally make it to the deck and she too stared at him. Zuko waved goodbye to everyone as the ships set sail and started to move. Aang walked closer as the ship parted land and into the water. He finally stopped walking as soon as there was water from the sea in front of him and stared at Katara into her blue eyes. Katara held onto the railing and gave Aang one last smile. He smiled back and stood at the same spot until he could not see the ships anymore.

* * *

Zuko looked out the window during the evening with Mai sitting down on his couch.

"So where is Azula being held at now?" Mai asked.

"I told them to put her at a metical health care where she will be watch around the clock." Zuko responded but not wanting got talk about his younger sister.

"Well nothing now should get in our way on stopping us from having fun." She said and smiled at him, forgetting about the subject.

He smiled back at her and sat right next to her on the couch lying right next to each other. She gave him a grape and dropped it in his mouth while it was opened and he smiled while he chewed. As they were enjoying their evening, the two heard a knock on the door.

"What is it now?" He asked angrily as he stood up from his couch.

He opened the door and saw two fire nation soldiers in front of him. They both greeted him presently.

"Fire Lord Zuko." One of them said. "We have some news for you."

"What is it?" He asked.

"We have whereabouts on your mother." The other solider said.

Mai stood up from the couch and walked towards Zuko. She put her arm around his and looked at the soldiers in the eyes.

"What do you mean?" Zuko asked stunned by the news.

"We think we may know where she is" The soldier said.

The sentence left Zuko astounded and speechless and Mai staring in his golden eyes. Zuko closed his mouth and cleared his throat.

"Then I guess we have work to do." He said.


End file.
